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Sunday, January 10, 2010
THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

MONDAY, JANUARY 11, WEEKDAY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, WEEKDAY

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, ST. HILARY, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, WEEKDAY

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, WEEKDAY

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ON SATURDAY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Financial Updates & Year-end Tax Information

** FINANCIAL UPDATES WILL AGAIN BE POSTED, BEGINNING WITH NEXT WEEK’S BULLETIN. WE MAY COMBINE SOME TOTALS IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE 2009 REPORTS MORE QUICKLY. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

Request forms for year-end tax information can be found in each of the vestibules. Look for the green half sheets and follow the directions regarding their return to the parish office. All requests must be in writing; no phone calls, please!

** Deadline for all 2009 donations **

All donations for the tax year January 1, 2008–December 31, 2009 must reach the parish office no later than Wednesday, January 13^th in order to be posted to your 2009 fund account. No exceptions!! All 2009 donations received after that date will be posted to your 2010 fund account. Thanks for your kind attention to this deadline request.

A few requests for the new year! Please use your weekly envelopes; clearly mark the amount of your offering where indicated. Loose checks are posted; including your parish # in the memo box will help save time during the posting process. Name & address changes are most welcome via the envelopes. Thanks & God bless!

RESPECT LIFE NEWS

Our Respect Life Mass for January is scheduled for January 23^rd at 8:00 AM. The Rosary will follow at approx. 8:45 at the Duke Street abortion facility. The Respect Life intention for January is for an openness to the plight of all widows and orphans, especially those who are most vulnerable.

Watch for Respect Life Updates regarding the annual March for Life scheduled for Friday, January 22^nd. Our regularly scheduled school Mass has been moved to 11:00 AM that morning to accommodate our faithful Marchers. Bus sign-up sheets will be available soon.

For more information on our Parish’s Respect Life activities, please call Joe Schramm at 202-466-0555, or email at jschramm@schrammadvertising.com (This is business phone, but you may leave a message).

Our January Pre-Baptism class is scheduled for Friday, January 15^th at 7:30 PM in the Parish Center Lounge. Please note the change in date from our usual first Thursday schedule; this change is for January only.

• Both class and parish registration are required in order to attend this class.
• One class is required if you plan to have your child baptized at Saint Rita Church. One class ONLY is required as long you are registered with Saint Rita Church.
• Class registration — as well as each additional baptism — requires the completion of some paperwork. This mailing will also include the Qualifications for Godparents. It’s important that all NEW parents (and others as well) understand the Church’s regulations regarding this important issue. Sponsor Certificates are required for each Godparent; this is clearly explained on the “Qualifications” form.
• Please direct your registration request and all baptism questions to Joanne at 703-836-1640, ext. 10.

The importance of parish registration!

We’ve had to say “no” to several recent requests for sponsor certificates, etc. because those making the requests were not registered with us. “But I go to church here” does not count as parish registration! Registration forms are available in each of the vestibules. Your completed form can be dropped in the collection basket, hand-delivered during business hours only (9–4), or returned by mail. We’d love to welcome you as part of the family; register today!

Social — Recreational — Cultural — Educational

The Saint Martin De Porres Senior Center welcomes all seniors 60 years of age and older to join them at 4650 Taney Avenue in Alexandria. We celebrate birthdays on a quarterly basis, serve a nutritional lunch daily (reserve your space one day in advance by 11 am), and organize field trips, with one planned for Tuesday, January 26^th to the Natural History Museum and Lunch at CiCi’s Pizza. Please call 703-751-1766/67 for more information, or contact them at www.ccda.net.

A special word of THANKS! to all those who so generously participated in our recent (and first!) PARISH BLOOD DRIVE. We’re happy to report that we exceeded both our goals of 30 participants and 24 units of blood. We welcomed 36 folks that chilly January Sunday, resulting in 30 units of blood! This will provide the gift of life to many in need; may God richly reward you. Our recent success has greatly encouraged us and we hope to make the Saint Rita Parish Blood Drive a regular event. — Special THANKS! to our NEW parishioner, Mr. Frank Donahoe for his tireless efforts in helping organize this Blood Drive. Much appreciated, Frank!

Father Horkan’s Bible Study Series will meet this Sunday, January 10^th at 7:30 PM in the Parish Center. Father’s group will continue with the discussion of Abraham and Isaac: Testing, Sacrifice and Devotion, Genesis, chapters 21–26, with this particular discussion coming to a close on Sunday, January 17^th. See next week’s bulletin for more on this continuing Bible Study Series.

Has the word “RESOLUTION” come to mind?
If so, we offer the following gems
as part of our on-going series:
‘Words of Wisdom from Saintly Priests’

“Truly, matters in the world are in a bad state; but if you and I begin in earnest to reform ourselves, a really good beginning will have been made.” — St. Peter of Alcantara (16^th century Franciscan)

“We should let God be the One to praise us and not praise ourselves. For God detests whose who commend themselves. Let others applaud our good deeds.” — Pope St. Clement I

“Our Lord created persons for all states in life, and in all of them we see people who have achieved sanctity by fulfilling their obligations well.” — St. Anthony Mary Claret

WAYS TO HELP THOSE IN NEED:

St. Rita Parish will work with ALIVE! on January 23^rd by picking up donated furniture and delivering it to those in need. We’ll start at 8:00 AM and finish about Noon. Transportation is available. To volunteer, call Susanne Arnold at 703-683-5138.

If you have an older car that needs no repairs, please consider donating it to Catholic Charities for distribution to a family or individual in need. Call Ray O’Brien or Harry Burke at 703-841-2531, ext. 12, or www.ccda.net for more information. Ninety-nine percent of all donated cars are given directly to our clients. You will receive a tax write-off for donating to Catholic Charities.

Call Susanne Arnold at 703-683-5138 for other ways to help. There is always a need, and Susanne will match your time and talent with those needs. May God reward you!

THE CANONIZATION OF SAINTS – PART I

With the recent advancement of the cause for the canonizations of Popes Pius XII (1939–58) and John Paul II (1978–2005), it is helpful to review the Church’s process for canonizing saints and the meaning of that designation. The term “saint” comes from the Latin word sanctus, which means “holy one.” There is a universal call to holiness and, using the broad definition of the term, every person is heaven is a saint. However, the Church also canonizes certain people as official saints, and therefore models of Catholic life, worthy of veneration by the whole Church. This article will describe what canonizations mean and how they came about. The next article will describe the process for canonizing saints.

For the first millennium of the Church, there was no formal process for declaring people to be saints. It was simply a matter of public recognition that certain people, such as Mary, the Apostles and the martyrs of the early Church, were saints. Recognizing a person as a saint meant affirming that he is certainly in heaven and, by martyrdom or a life of heroic virtue, a model of Catholic life. It does not mean that the person’s life was always holy; many saints, such as St. Augustine, experienced dramatic conversions. Rather a saint, by the time he died, became holy enough to go straight to heaven, and is thus worthy of official devotions on earth.

As time went one, different areas were developing extensive and varied lists of saints and people wanted more certainty about who could be venerated as a saint. And so, in the tenth century, the Popes themselves started declaring certain people as saints so that all people could know of the fittingness of their devotions. In order to avoid confusion as more people were being venerated as saints and standards were extremely varied, Pope Alexander III in 1170 decreed that, in the future, only the Pope himself would declare any new saints. A diocese or religious order could still venerate a deceased holy person as a “blessed,” and then present that person as worthy of canonization; but only the Pope would declare a saint. In 1234, Pope Gregory described the distinction more clearly and set forth a defined process for canonizing saints.

In order to unite the Church more, with a clear set of people who can be venerated as saints and blesseds, Pope Sixtus V decreed in 1588 that, from then onward, the Pope would authorize all declarations of people as blesseds or saints. There is, however, a crucial difference. The declaration of a person as a blessed, which may be given by the Pope himself or a bishop with the Pope’s approval, is a recognition that a person is in heaven and worthy of veneration as a model of Catholic life either because of his martyrdom or heroic virtue. If a person is declared blessed, he or she can be invoked in public veneration; and Masses in his honor can be celebrated in his area and other places associated with him, such as the houses of a religious order of which a blessed was a member. A decree of canonization, i.e., the declaration that a person is an official saint, is issued only by the Pope. It is a use of papal magisterium, or teaching office, and makes it above doubt that the person canonized is in heaven, a powerful intercessor for us, and worthy of general veneration because, by the end of his life, become a model of Catholic life. Many saints are on the universal calendar of the Church, which means that Masses and other liturgies in their honor are set forth in universal liturgical books. For any saint, however, there can be public veneration, such as Masses and chapels in their honor and the addition of their names to litanies of saints. Next week’s article will describe the process the Church now uses to declare people saints.

— Father Horkan